At the end of the each day, do you celebrate what you’ve achieved or sit there and freak out about the things you still have to do?

So often we get hung up on what we haven’t done, all the things adding to our ever amounting to do list, which keeps overwhelming us and feels like we are getting nowhere. But we also overlook or dismiss the things we have achieved - no matter how big or small that achievement was. We have to remember that the action we have just completed required us to put in some of our own muscle power and motivation, and we should acknowledge and be proud of that.

So many of my clients do this with their own goals. They feel guilty when they haven’t quite completed all their actions for the week and feel embarrassed when we come to discuss them. However, this can actually be a good thing, not only can we take the time to recognise the hard work they have put into their completed actions, but also use their insights to apply it to completing other actions.

I recently have been working on a goal of getting up early every morning. I’m not a great morning person and when that alarm goes off, at the moment it feels like the hardest thing to just get up. There are so many times I have just reached for snooze button and another 30 minutes has passed. I’ve now been attempting this for a number of weeks and I think I’m now actually waking before my alarm – I’m not necessarily getting straight out of bed, but I’m generally not falling back asleep now either. When I do get up that extra time makes a real difference to my day. So I can’t get hung up on what I’m not doing and instead feel good that I’m slowly breaking a habit of a lifetime.

Remember all the small actions do add up, and don’t beat yourself up for what you haven’t done. Just ask yourself what worked for you with the stuff you have completed, and how can you apply that to the things you keep putting off?

Before I did my coach training, I was always interested in goal setting and improvement but wasn’t quite sure how to go about it and so I never got very far. I then took on a coach myself to find out what coaching was really all about and help me define and achieve my goals.

Three months later I had decided I wanted to become a coach, found a part-time contracting role that would enable me to setup my own coaching business and had found a way to look at continuously growing and improving myself. I don’t think I would have made those decisions and taken the action needed without the support and encouragement from having a coach. It was one of the best things I have ever done.

1 year later, I’m lucky enough to be living in Taiwan with my partner, and have the luxury of all the time in the world. So I’m making the most of it, I have set some more goals and am really committing to achieving these – all using methods I have learnt from my coaching, but it’s a lot harder without the accountability and encouragement from someone else. I am going to take on another coach in July and go through and set some more goals – you could say I’m addicted.

It’s all about walking the talk, there are so many people out there marketing themselves and their business – how many of them use their own products and services? If you don’t use them how do you expect to promote them to other people. It just doesn’t make sense.

So I know that coaching works for me, I want to inspire people through my own achievements and show you that you can achieve the things you really want. It takes commitment and a great support structure, but when you get to that finish line – its an unbelievable feeling.